Page 46 of The Collector
“I assume you raised it with your counterpart.”
“On several occasions,” said Shamron. “And each time I did, he assured me that there were only seven weapons. Some years later, though, I was told by a trusted source that he had lied to me.”
“Who was the source?”
“Lukas van Damme.” Shamron resumed work on the Grundig radio. Absently, he asked, “How do you think we should handle my niece?”
“Given the fact that she possesses her uncle’s volcanic temper, Ithink we should proceed with extreme caution.” Gabriel paused, then added, “Perhaps even a bit of deception.”
“My favorite word. What do you have in mind?”
“Someone should probably tell her that I conducted an unauthorized debriefing of Sergei Morosov.”
“Yes,” agreed Shamron. “Someone probably should.”
25
Narkiss Street
Shamron’s call went straight to her voice mail, and by the time she finally got back to him, the culprit was approaching Jerusalem. The hour was late, and her mood was brittle, which these days was its default setting. Her famous uncle wasted little time getting to the point.
“I’m going to kill him,” was her reply.
“Another first,” said Shamron. “But it would undoubtedly do irreparable harm to your career.”
“Not if I make it look like an accident.”
“It’s only a rumor, mind you. You should probably look into it before you do anything rash.”
“Where did you hear this rumor?”
“I’m not at liberty to say.”
“You’re not involved in something, are you, Ari?”
“Me? Never.”
She rang the head of the Office’s internal security division, who immediately raised the guards at the secret detention facility in the Biriya Forest. Yes, they admitted, the legend had arrived thereunannounced earlier that evening. And, yes, he had questioned the prisoner for approximately an hour.
“Why did you let him in?”
“He’s Gabriel Allon.”
“You should have called me.”
“He ordered us not to.”
“Was he alone?”
“Mikhail was with him.”
“Anyone else?”
“A woman.”
“Name?”
“Didn’t seem to have one.”
